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Friday, February 25, 2011

France's Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma held its ceremony for the 36th annual César du cinéma (César Awards) tonight at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris. The big winner of the night was Des hommes et des dieux (Of Gods and Men) by Xavier Beauvois, which took Best Film. It also captured Best Supporting Actor for Michael Lonsdale, and Best Cinematography. Des hommes et des dieux (Of Gods and Men) had led with eleven nominations.

But the French co-production The Ghost Writer took more awards with a total of four. It won Best Director for Roman Polanski, Best Adapted Screenplay (Polanski and Robert Harris), Best Original Score and Best Editing. Polanski was on hand to accept his awards and said, "I'm not used to making speeches but since this film was finished, I would like to thank all those without whom it could not happen, everyone who supported me, my wife and my daughter, my associates and all my other friends."

Joann Sfar's Gainsbourg (vie héroïque) won for Best Actor (Eric Elmosnino), Best Sound and Best First Feature. Le Nom des gens (The Names of Love) was also a multiple winner with Best Actress (Sarah Forestier) and Best Original Screenplay (Michel Leclerc, Baya Kasmi).
The inaugural César for Best Animated Film went to the lyrical hand-drawn film by Sylvain Chomet, L'Illusionniste (The Illusionist), also nominated at the Oscars for animation. The winner for Best Foreign Film was David Fincher's The Social Network. The Documentary winner was Océans by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud.

Quentin Tarantino was awarded an
honorary César award by his Inglourious Basterds stars Diane Kruger and Christoph Waltz. Antoine de Caunes hosted the event for the seventh time and actress Jodie Foster presided
over the ceremony.
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